SBMA rejoices over PNoy's approval of salary increaseMar 29, 2016

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT - "This is a day of celebration". This was the statement of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Roberto Garcia and the reaction of the rest of the SBMA employees as they received the news of Garcia’s meeting with President Aquino the other day.

Chairman Garcia announced here on Wednesday that President Aquino has approved the proposed fourth tranche of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL 3) for the SBMA on Tuesday after getting assurance from the SBMA that the salary increase can be sustained without subsidy from the national government.

“It was a long process for us, but we are still fortunate because we were able to get SSL 3, Tranche 4 in just one year,” Garcia told the employees on Wednesday.

He added that SBMA employees, due to the long delay since their last increase in 2008, will get a 30 percent increase, with the lowest rate of increase pegged at 18 percent.

Garcia also thanked the officials who helped the SBMA in urging Malacañang to approve the salary increase. These include former DILG Sec. Mar Roxas, who personally endorsed the SBMA letter of request to the President; DBM Sec. Florencio Abad, Executive Sec. Paquito Ochoa, Zambales 1st District Rep. Jeffrey Khonghun, and Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino.

Meanwhile, SBMA Employees Association (SEA) president Elmer Libo congratulated Chairman Garcia and thanked him for exerting all efforts to have the request for salary adjustment through SSL 3, Tranche 4 approved by the President before the election ban took effect.

“We are happy and would like to thank President Aquino for finally approving the SSL 3, tranche 4 for SBMA employees. This will not only boost the morale of the employees and inspire them to become more productive, but will also directly improve the lives of our families,” Libo said.

Earlier, the DBM told the SBMA that it can implement salary adjustment provided that it can comply with the reorganization requirements of the Office of the President; that it can freely support the same; and that in no case shall subsidy be granted by the National Government to SBMA to cover the funding requirement for the salary adjustment.

Chairman Garcia said that since SBMA is self-sustaining it has not received a single peso of subsidy from the national government. On the other hand, “The SBMA contributed P19 billion to the national government in 2015, consisting of BOC, BIR collections, the LGU shares and dividends (30).